Would you embrace a new technology that worked better than a VPN?

Ok so VPNs have been around for ages. Business has been addicted to them as the only method of securing their home servers with their workstations in the field; even with all their problems and shortcomings. So my question is this: How likely are you to embrace a new technology that promises to work better, secure better and have more features than a VPN? Please state your reasons for or against.

"embrace a new technology" is a very suspect thing to do in a production environment, however a lot of us got into IT in the first place because of the "newnest"

while I agree 0.x is generally for playing with ( unless what you need to do can't be done any other way) you have to watch out for version 3.0 where there has not been a version 1.0 or 2.0 !

and as pros we know how keen new people are to the latest solution to all known problems, and end up supporting them if they are a good thing or not.

in the case of VPN, I have spent many an hour changing setting x or y and if there were a better "mousetrap" I would have used it.

now I am not too sure if Mike proposes that the cloud is a new VPN or that a better VPN would have meant that less of us would even consider the cloud as a business solution, however now the cat is out of the bag I thing it may be a little too late for the better VPN.

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I'm not sure I understand your question. A VPN allows a secure connection between 2 networks. There is a wealth of security, tunneling, and authentication options available so I question what you mean by 'secure better'. I also wonder what you mean by features? What kind of features are you talking about? Connecting 2 networks via a secure connection is pretty much the only feature of a VPN. Sure there are TONS of options on how to get that done, but it's all still a VPN.

If I were to see an advert for a better than VPN secure connection, I would need to see the RFCs for the connection, tunneling, authentication, and encryption technologies. I'd also need to see that the code has been vetted and verified bug free and secure. In short, I would call BS on the whole thing until I saw proof otherwise.

I think he is referring more to other methods of establishing the VPNt tunnel, such as SSL VPN for example as opposed to the classical VPN tunnel using IPsec.
With the web browser based SSL VPN you dont need the VPN Client software anymore and there is no need to carry your company laptop around. You can connect to your company network and resources from any device that is connected to the Internet and has a web browser installed with the respective plugin running.
Citrix is the market leader for such solutions.

@David Hesse
I use SSL VPNs myself. It's still a VPN. The major difference between this and what is thought of as a 'traditional' VPN is use of IPSec instead of SSL as the tunneling protocol.
You actually do need client software for an SSL VPN. It's just that most computer have a web browser capable of handling SSL so it's not clientless it's just a transparent client to the end user.

I am afraid that I am one of those who seriously distrusts the 0.x version of tools, for the most part, and, for that matter, even the 1.0 through 1.5 versions. In other words, while I may be an early adopter, I long ago got tired of being a pioneer.

When I was in the "pioneer" category, we used to have a (only semi-joking ;-) saying:
Q: Do you know how you can tell the pioneers?
A: By the arrows in their backs

In other words, pioneers often tend to have pain inflicted upon them and, in the sense of losing their jobs due to a bad recommendation, of winding up face down with arrows in their backs. ;-)

If the new technology promises to provide a better "mousetrap", I might not "embrace" it; on the other hand, if it demonstrates that it provides a better "mousetrap", then I am very likely to adopt, if not immediately embrace, it.

"embrace a new technology" is a very suspect thing to do in a production environment, however a lot of us got into IT in the first place because of the "newnest"

while I agree 0.x is generally for playing with ( unless what you need to do can't be done any other way) you have to watch out for version 3.0 where there has not been a version 1.0 or 2.0 !

and as pros we know how keen new people are to the latest solution to all known problems, and end up supporting them if they are a good thing or not.

in the case of VPN, I have spent many an hour changing setting x or y and if there were a better "mousetrap" I would have used it.

now I am not too sure if Mike proposes that the cloud is a new VPN or that a better VPN would have meant that less of us would even consider the cloud as a business solution, however now the cat is out of the bag I thing it may be a little too late for the better VPN.

I have had the privledge of working with and supporting IT efforts over the past 25 years and have had the luxury and opportunity to witness evolutions of the VPNs, SSLs, etc. in business environments to protect structures - networks, data, communications, people and so forth. Billions of dollars have been spent for protection under this current umbrella and now the industry is again evolving by moving to new Cloud Technologies.

Are companies ready for this move and willing to throw away all the previous expenses involved with VPN's for a more secure platform? If so, what is the best approach, a Public or Private Cloud?

There will always be innovators that move toward and embrace new technologies. Cloud Technology is the next security level to where VPN’s will be replaced with Virtual Cloud Networks (VCN’s).